Writing devices



M. J. VON ARX WRITING DEVICES Jan. 31, 1967 Original Filed NOV. 6, 1962 gwvmbow Mawae/ l/ase v/z/ V072 fizz WW My United States Patent 3,301,221 WRITING DEVICES' Marcel Joseph von Arx, Montgeron, France, assignor to Rotary Pen Corp., Kenilworth, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey r Application Oct. 6, 1965, Ser. No. 497,594, which Is a continuation of application Ser. No. 235,763, Nov. 6, 1962. Divided and this application Apr. 11, 1966, Ser. No. 541,850

Claims priority, application France, Dec. 22, 1961, 882,949, Patent 81,707 5 Claims. (Cl. 12042.13)

This application is a division of copending application Serial No. 497,594, filed October 6, 1965, now Patent No. 3,262,427 issued July 26, 1966, which in turn is a continuation of copending application Serial No. 235,763, filed November 6, 1962, and entitled, Ball Point Pens, and now abandoned.

The present invention relates to writing devices and particularly to ball point pens of the multiple writing unit type. Such pens are primarily used with writing units charged with ink of dilferent colors to give a quick color-change in use but they may also be used with units charged with the same ink so that when one unit is eX- hausted, another can be brought quickly into operation.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a ball point pen of the multiple writing unit type and having for each writing unit a pusher which is spring biased from an engaged operative position towards the retracted position, in which pen each pusher is provided with a ramp adapted, when the pusher is advanced while another pusher is engaged, to disengage the other pusher and thereby cause it to be spring driven to its retracted position.

In the operation of the pen each pusher is engaged when the point of its writing unit projects in the writing position at the end of the pen and is released for return to its retracted position when another pusher is moved from its own retracted position. Further movement of the other pusher brings the new ball point into the writing position.

In one preferred form of the pen each pusher consists of a head part upon which the ramp is formed and a rod part which passes through a helical spring which provides the spring bias for the pusher. Mounted between the pushers is a transversely displaceable ball which serves to convey the disengaging reaction of the ramps from one pusher to the other. Conveniently, the pushers are formed with recesses which are penetrated by the ball when the pushers are in the retracted position, said recesses being bounded by the ramps. Conveniently, a guide member for the pusher is mounted on the axis of the pen and provides an abutment for restraining the pushers in the engaged position. Advantageously the guide member is grooved or slotted to accommodate the ramps as the pushers are advanced.

Other features and advantages will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention; other embodiments, proportions and the like may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a part-sectional elevation of a preferred form of the present invention designed for two writing units with one ball point in the writing position and the other retracted; and

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with both ball points retracted.

In all the figures, the same reference numerals signify corresponding parts.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pen has two writing units a and :1 arranged symmetrically about its longi- 3,301,221 Patented Jan. 31, 1 967 tudinal axis. Obviously, the pen may be modified to have more than two units, for example three spaced apart by The units are mounted in the body I) of the pen, which has a separately formed cap c.

Each unit is fitted to the rod part d of a pusher, slidably carried in a fixed guide plug e, formed with internally shouldered channels e and fixed, for example, to the body of the pen. Threaded over each rod part is a spring 1 which bears against the base g of a pusher head g and against the shoulders of the channels 2 by means of which the pushers slide in the ring 2.

Two cavities h, machined or moulded in the upper part of the cap c, are adapted to receive the heads g. of the pushers which abut in the retracted position against the shoulder I1 These heads move along a median partition i. The lower part of this partition forms a stop for the forward portion of the heads. The head g has a recess m, bounded by a ramp portion m An aperture n is formed centrally through the forward part of the partition i of the cap of the pen at the retracted level of the notches m of the heads g. In the aperture n is held a ball 0 which, as may be seen from the drawings, is displaceable transversely to the axis of the pen.

The operation of the device of the present invention is as follows:

Downward pressure exerted on the head g of the pusher corresponding with the selected color is transmitted both vertically to push the ball point forward, and transversely to the axis of the pen so that the top j of the head of the pusher engages under the partition i. When a pressure is applied to the head g of the pusher, this head displaces the ball 0 and engages in the operative position. The ball is received in the recess in of the other pusher (FIG. 1). In order to release the engaged pusher and return it under the action of its return spring, it is necessary only to operate the other pusher. Under the action of the ramp in, of the notch in of the said other pusher, the ball is forced transversely to disengage the head of the engaged pusher and cause its release, the latter returning to its retracted position under the action of the spring until the head of its pusher engages the upper part of the cap 0. Further movement of the head of the pusher corresponding with the new color locks the ball point therefor in the writing position.

It will be noted that the small number and simplicity of the components of the pen are conducive to manufacture at unusually low cost.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

The invention claimed is:

1. A writing device comprising a casing; a plurality of elongated writing units; said writing units being mounted in said casing for axial movement along the axis of said casing and being separately movable between a writing position and a retracted position in said casing; spring means biasing each Writing unit to its retracted position in said casing; abutment means fixed longitudinally relative to said casing and positioned between said writing units; locking means on each of said writing units engageable by said abutment means when said writing units are moved into their writing positions for restraining said units against retraction by said spring means; a spherical member; guide means fixed relative to said casing and positioned between said writing units; said spherical member being supported by said guide means and being capable of movement transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of said casing; and camrning means integrally formed on each writing unit; the camming means of one of said writing units cooperating directly with said spherical member upon movement of said one writing unit from its retracted position toward its writing position to force said spherical member against another of said writing units when the latter is in its writing position and to move the locking means of said other Writing unit clear of said abutment means so as to cause a spring-biased retraction of said other writing unit to its retracted position.

2. A writing device as defined in claim 1 wherein said abutment means and said guide means form parts of a unitary structure which is fixed longitudinally relative to said casing and positioned between said writing units.

3. A writing device as defined in claim 2 wherein said guide means is comprised of an aperture in said unitary structure, which aperture extends completely through said unitary structure in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of said casing; said spherical member being positioned in said aperture.

4. A writing device as defined in claim 3 wherein each of said writing units is provided with a recess one wall of which serves as said camming means; said spherical mernher being movable at least partially into the recess of one of said writing units in its retracted position when another of said writing units is moved from its retracted position toward its writing position.

5. A writing device as defined in claim '4 wherein said writing units are ball-point pens. Y

No references cited.

LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner. 

1. A WRITING DEVICE COMPRISING A CASING; A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED WRITING UNITS; SAID WRITING UNITS BELONG MOUNTED IN SAID CASING FOR AXIAL MOVEMENT ALONG THE AXIS OF SAID CASING AND BEING SEPARATELY MOVABLE BETWEEN A WRITING POSITION AND A RETRACTED POSITION IN SAID CASING; SPRING MEANS BIASING EACH WRITING UNIT TO ITS RETRACTED POSITION IN SAID CASING; ABUTMENT MEANS FIXED LONGITUDINALLY RELATIVE TO SAID CASING AND POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID WRITING UNITS; LOCKING MEANS ON EACH OF SAID WRITING UNITS ENGAGEABLE BY SAID ABUTMENT MEANS WHEN SAID WRITING UNITS ARE MOVED INTO THEIR WRITING POSITIONS FOR RESTRAINING SAID UNITS AGAINST RETRACTION BY SAID SPRING MEANS; A SPHERICAL MEMBER; GUIDE MEANS FIXED RELATIVE TO SAID CASING AND POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID WRITING UNITS; SAID SPHERICAL MEMBER BEING SUPPORTED BY SAID GUIDE MEANS AND BEING CAPABLE OF MOVEMENT TRANSVERSELY WITH RESPECT TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID CASING; AND CAMMING MEANS INTEGRALLY FORMED ON EACH WRITING UNIT; THE CAMMING MEANS OF ONE OF SAID WRITING UNITS COOPERATING DIRECTLY WITH SAID SPHERICAL MEMBER UPON MOVEMENT OF SAID ONE WRITING UNIT FROM ITS RETRACTED POSITION TOWARD ITS WRITING POSITION TO FORCE SAID SPHERICAL MEMBER AGAINST ANOTHER OF SAID WRITING UNITS WHEN THE LATTER IS IN ITS WRITING POSITION AND TO MOVE THE LOCKING MEANS OF SAID OTHER WRITING UNIT CLEAR OF SAID ABUTMENT MEANS SO AS TO CAUSE A SPRING-BIASED RETRACTION OF SAID OTHER WRITING UNIT TO ITS RETRACTED POSITION. 